Tony Martin of the Omega Pharma Quick-Step romped home to victory in Stage 20, the penultimate race of Tour de France 2014.
Meanwhile, Vincenzo Nibali of the Astana holds the yellow jersey. The Italian was in fourth position in Stage 20 and now looks set to win the tournament.
Tom Dumoulin of the Giant Shimano stood second, while Jan Barta of Net App Endura came third. The stage contained a time trial as the contestants covered a distance of 54 kiometres between Bergerac and Perigueux.
Martin, the champion in world time trials, showed why the others were no match for him here. His expertise in this facet of world cycling came through particularly during the hilly stretches of the race. In only an hour, six minutes and 21 seconds, he finished the hilly stretches.
"I have already won two Tour time trials, so I am proud to now have a third win, BCC Sport quoted the German.
Martin hailed his team Omega Pharma Quick-Step.
"The team really did a great job for me. They paid attention to all the details. I had a clear idea of the parcours in advance," the Stage 20 winner said.
"There were always parts with two or three percent gradients, with uphills and downhills. You could go with a big gear, such as my 58-tooth chainring. It was just perfect for me," he added.
Meanwhile, the French look certain to have their names in the honours list amongst the General Classification (GC) riders after Jean-Christophe Peraud took the second spot as he went past compatriot Thibaut Pinot.
"It's an enormous satisfaction. The withdrawals of (Chris) Froome and (Alberto) Contador opened a range of possibilities and I started dreaming about this second place. I'm happy to have achieved that goal. I have a feeling of mission accomplished and a lot of joy today," Velonews quoted Péraud.
Now, it's only a matter of time before Nibali is officially crowned Tour de France 2014 winner. He will be the second Italian to win the tournament after Marco Pantani in 1998. But Nibali still wants to push ahead and is not thinking about the milestone.
"I haven't even thought about it yet, I've always thought about giving my maximum and not about what I might achieve or records or entering into Tour history. I just thought about getting to the end of each stage and getting on my bike because that's what I like the most," Nibali stressed.
Stage 20 results
1. Tony Martin [Ger/Omega Pharma] - Quick-Step) 1hr 06mins 21secs
2. Tom Dumoulin [Ned/Giant-Shimano]
3. Jan Barta [Cze/NetApp Endura]
4. Vincenzo Nibali [Ita/Astana]
5. Leopold Koenig [Cze/NetApp Endura]
General Classification Standings
1. Vincenzo Nibali [Ita/Astana] 86hrs 37mins 52secs
2. Jean-Christophe Peraud [Fra/AG2R] +7mins 52secs
3. Thibaut Pinot [Fra/FDJ.fr] +8mins 24secs
4. Alejandro Valverde [Spa/Movistar] +9mins 55secs
5. Tejay van Garderen [US/BMC Racing] +11mins 44secs
